


The Desk Job

by Quarra



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Artist-Janitor Steve, Businessman bucky, Clint is her willing minion, F/M, First Meetings, Joke Socks, M/M, Meet-Cute, Natasha is a badass, Non-serum Bucky, Shrunkyclunks, Weird First Meetings, beefy!Steve, despite the name, no sexy times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-10-09 17:22:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10417206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quarra/pseuds/Quarra
Summary: Businessman Bucky finds a strange blond man sleeping under his desk. He is too tired for this bullshit, so rather than waking the man up he decides to just finish his work so he can go home.Steve needed a place to sleep for the night, but he didn't expect to wake up to legs boxing him in under the desk.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [文案工作](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10501305) by [flyingmax](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flyingmax/pseuds/flyingmax)



> Again, blame lack of sleep and the RBB Chat; spurred by the idea that I was so tired I would curl up under someone else's desk and go to sleep.

Steve was desperate. His new apartment wouldn’t be open for him to move in for another day, his old one kicked him out last week, and he had run out of friends to couch surf with. 

Thor and Jane had Thor’s father coming in from Norway to visit them for the next ten days. Sam was repainting his apartment, so literally _everything_ was shoved into piles in the center of each room. He had even considered calling up Tony to see if he could crash with him, but Tony was out of town for some kind of conference. 

On the bright side, at least his stuff was safely stashed at his tiny art studio. On the down side, even his studio didn’t have room for him; the boxes were stacked to the ceiling. 

Steve mulled over his predicament while finishing up his night of work. Like every other artist he knew, he kept up part time job on the side to fill in the lean times between commissions. He cleaned offices in one of the high-rises downtown at night.

Staying up at an all-night diner was always an option, but the truth of the matter was Steve was exhausted. He had spent all week combing through his stuff, donating the things that were still useful, dumping the things that weren’t, and boxing up all the stuff he actually wanted to keep. And that was on top of his janitorial work _and_ the work for the commission he had due next week. The only reason he hadn’t fallen asleep already was because he was standing up.

As he went from office to office he started to seriously consider just sleeping on a park bench. 

In winter.

In the snow.

Fuck. 

If only he had a car he could sleep there.

It was getting close to midnight by the time Steve got to the end of his assigned cleaning block. One of the corner offices had a note on the door: “Away on vacation, DO NOT CALL ME I SWEAR TO GOD!” 

The dates listed went through the end of the week. 

Steve pondered this while he vacuumed the office carpet. The room was large, with no windows toward the main office area; just a nice scenic view. There was not trash to empty. There was an adjoining washroom. He wiped down the mirror there and thought some more. 

No one was there. No one would _be_ there in this office for days. He had the key. The carpet was soft and comfortable. He could just curl up in a corner, set his phone alarm for a few hours, grab a quick nap, and be on his way before the workers got in for the morning work day. 

The more he thought about it, the better an idea it sounded.

He finished his work quickly after that and put away his cleaning supplies in their proper place. After that he snuck back up to the vacated office. Steve kind of hoped that the security guard wouldn’t be watching for him. The guy seemed nice enough, but Steve really wasn’t sure how well squatting in one of the offices would go over.

But it’s not like Steve would ever dream of vandalizing or, god forbid, stealing anything! These people worked hard for what they had and it seemed wrong to do anything that might make their lives more difficult. He was just going to borrow a little floor space. Just for a couple hours. No one would ever know he was even there.

Once he slipped back into the office he took a moment to decide where to lay down. On the _very_ slim chance that someone else showed up on the floor and poked their head in this room, Steve decided to curl up under the desk. No one would be able to see him from the door.

And besides, it was sort of comfy to settle into the small space. He snuggled into his jacked and lay his head down on his backpack. 

Steve was asleep in moments, completely oblivious to the fact that he had forgotten to set his phone alarm.

\--

Bucky was fucking _furious_. His first vacation in two years and he got called back to deal with some contract fiasco. 

He should have left town. He should have turned off his phone. But, honestly, all he had really wanted to do was sleep all week and watch Netflix. That sounded like the best vacation he could dream of, even with the fact that money wasn’t really an issue. 

Home was a place he wanted to spend time at; why bother spending money to get tired out somewhere else? Vacations were supposed to be relaxing anyways, and what’s more relaxing than marathon watching baking shows?

It was just after midnight when Bucky had gotten the call from Natasha. She had been up late pouring through the documentation for the new acquisition and had stumbled across a bit of language tucked away in a footnote that would absolutely _screw them_ if left alone. Now Bucky had to come in and rewrite a dozen pages of contract to account for any additional hardship that clause might bring.

He grimaced. This was why he got paid the big bucks. When push came to shove, he would be there at a moment’s notice. Even if the idea of going into work in the middle of his deeply longed for vacation made him want to stab someone’s eyes out.

Not Natasha’s, though. He was pretty sure she ate spiders for breakfast and could spit nails. Granted, the rumor mill said the same thing about him, too; it was part of the reason they made such a good team. But they were also close friends and he had come to appreciate that life was easier when they weren’t sniping at each other. Bucky also knew that even though he was pissed, he would be more pissed if she didn’t call him and it bit them in the ass later. 

So there he was in the middle of his Netflix binge watching spree, on his way to work. He decided just to head into the office in the wee hours of the morning. He had keys to get in and the less people who saw him, the more likely he would be able to get work done and get the hell out before anyone could stop and chat him up. 

Bucky made sure to pick up food and coffee on the way into the office. If he was going to be in the office at stupid’o’clock in the morning, he might as well have tasty things to graze on.

To be honest though, Bucky sort of loved being in the office when no one else was there. The empty space and the peace and quiet were soothing to him. Just walking through the empty halls was enough to gentle his temper a little. So by the time he got to his office, he was just grumpy rather than actually furious. 

Natasha still owed him something nice after this though. He slipped into his office, pulled out his chair, and sat down with a sigh.

And then he realized that there was a man under his desk.

A rather attractive man, actually. He was big enough that Bucky sort of wondered how he fit into the space under Bucky’s desk. From the looks of the one bare arm visible outside of the man’s coat, he was _ripped_. Bucky was in good shape himself, but he had nothing on the sheer bulk of this guy. The man was clean cut, too, with short blond hair and full pink lips. Bucky loved clean cut guys.

Well. 

Bucky sat frozen in indecision. 

The man didn’t look dangerous. Rather he reminded Bucky of his college years when sleep was so important and time was so short that it didn’t really matter where you stopped for a nap, as long as you could get a nap in before the next class.

_Fuck it_ , Bucky thought, and scooted up his chair and got to work. He had work to do, and if some sexy blond was under his desk while he was doing it? Well, truthfully, Bucky was too annoyed and too tired to finish that thought appropriately, so he just lost himself in work.

Four hours later and Bucky had finished up a messy draft of the changes that needed to be made to their contract. The blond man was still asleep under the desk. Bucky’s coffee was gone and his eyes burned from lack of sleep.

He rolled back his chair and stared at the man. He was pretty adorable. Bucky rubbed his face and sighed. He wondered what could have led the guy to end up sleeping under his desk.

It was 5am. It was too late for this bullshit. Early. Whatever.

Still, Bucky felt sort of bad for the guy. Clearly he must have been exhausted; he didn’t even wake up. Bucky shrugged and left his uneaten snack on the floor next to the guy.

He gathered up his things and left. There was nothing the man could steal from his office; there wasn’t really anything in there that couldn’t be replaced. And if the guy needed a place to sleep enough that he found a way to sneak into a secure high rise, well, Bucky didn’t mind leaving him to it. He was going back on vacation.

\--

Steve woke up when the sunlight from the widow behind the desk hit his face. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. He felt more rested than he really had any right to. This was a fantastic idea.

And then he saw the bag in front of him.

He was certain that it wasn’t there when he went to sleep. Peeking inside, it held a cold ham and egg sandwich and a rice krispy treat. 

Steve sat cross legged on the floor and stared at the bag in confusion. Which was right about when he noticed that the sun was up outside. At which point it finally filtered through to his brain that he hadn’t set an alarm and _oh shit_ he was late for his meeting with his new landlord.

He grabbed the bag of food and exited as casually as he could. It was still a bit early, so the floor space wasn’t filled with people yet, but it wasn’t that far off and he really didn’t want to be stopped and questioned. 

\--

Steve ended up missing his meeting with his new landlord, something that he spent the rest of the day kicking himself about. It was an absolute pain in the ass to get in touch with the woman. Apparently she didn’t live in the building and was in a place with terrible phone reception. It took several hours of phone tag to even get her on the line.

The really frustrating part was she had the key to his new place. He wouldn’t be able to get in until they met up. Once he got her on the phone, Steve tried to reschedule a meet up later that day. Unfortunately for him, she had already booked the rest of her evening with appointments.

She did at least sound apologetic. Steve couldn’t even really be mad at her; it was his fault that he missed the appointment. 

At least he had food.

Which was pretty weird in and of itself. Someone had clearly found Steve sleeping under that desk and not only let him sleep, but left him breakfast? He…didn’t know how he should feel about that. As weird things go, it was pretty weird.

As weird as sleeping under a random guy’s desk, he supposed. 

That night he was stuck with the exact same problem as he had the night before. Except now someone _knew_ he had slept there. Granted, they knew and didn’t do anything about it. But still. The risk factor was higher.

But much like the first night, Steve really didn’t have anywhere else to go. In the end he reasoned that whoever it was hadn’t bothered to call the police on him, or even wake him up, so it was worth the risk.

Better than sleeping in the park or trying to pull and all-nighter in some dive. 

Steve finished up his cleaning work for the night and once again snuck into the empty corner office. This time he made doubly sure that he set his alarm to go off.

\--

Bucky was going to _murder_ Natasha, close personal friendship be _damned_. He was on vacation! He was in the middle of a newly posted season of the Great British Baking Challenge! How the fuck had Natasha found _another_ emergency for him to deal with? Again! In the middle of the night!

This time Bucky didn’t bother stopping to pick up coffee and food; he was too pissed off. Not even the quiet solitude of the office could sweeten his temper.

He pulled out his office chair and collapsed onto it.

The blond man was under his desk again.

This was the _weirdest_ week Bucky had ever had. 

Whatever. He had work to do. Hot Blond Guy could sleep all he wanted.

\--

Steve woke up to the sound of a keyboard clicking above him. His eyes flew open and, yes, sure enough, there was a man sitting at the desk he was sleeping under. 

A man in black flannel PJs. With grey My Neighbor Totoro socks. 

Steve furrowed his brow. He tried not to move, but apparently he gave himself away somehow because the chair rolled back and Steve was greeted with a very tired smirk.

“Morning sunshine,” the guy in the chair said. He had longish brunette hair, a gorgeous jaw line, and a delightfully cleft chin. He was totally disheveled and completely lickable. 

“I. Uh. I mean. Oh my god _I am so sorry_ ,” Steve stammered out. He burned with embarrassment. Of all the places he could have been caught sleeping, this was not one he ever thought would be on the list.

The man just chuckled. 

“Hey, it’s alright. I’ve got to admit, it’s a little weird, but there are worst things then having an attractive blond hiding under my desk.” 

Steve dropped his jaw a little in shock. Was he implying what Steve thought he was implying? 

The man scrunched up his eyes and winced. “No. That. That didn’t come out…like I wanted it to. It sounded way less creepy in my head.” He sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m really tired.”

Steve smirked at him.

“You mind if I come out of here?” he asked.

“Oh! Shit! Yes, that’s fine. I’m sorry.” The brunette rubbed one hand over his face. “Look, I’m supposed to be on vacation, and I got dragged in here to do some extra work. I’m…not at my best.” He wheeled back the chair further and Steve climbed out.

“So,” Steve said.

“So,” the guy replied.

“Thank you for breakfast?” Steve asked.

The guy blushed adorably. “Oh. Um. Yeah. You looked tired. I didn’t want to wake you.”

“My name’s Steve.”

“I’m Bucky.” At Steve’s raised eyebrow he added, “Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s silly. It’s a nickname that stuck; my real name is James.” Bucky pointed to the nameplate on the office door.

They looked at each other awkwardly for a moment.

“Hey, um. Do you maybe want to get breakfast with me?” Bucky asked. “My treat? I’m nearly done here and I didn’t really stop to get anything this time and it’s been a while since I’ve eaten…”

Steve smiled slowly and said, “Yeah. Yeah, I’d really like that.”

Bucky’s face lit up with a brilliant smile.

\--

“The Winter Soldier…has thawed,” Clint intoned ominously into the phone line.

Natasha snorted on the other end. 

“So it worked? They’re talking?” She sounded gleeful. 

Clint met up with Natasha when she had been working late at the office one night and lost her keys. As the nighttime security guard for the building, Clint was the one who came to lock up her office for her. They hit it off and started dating; they’ve been together for several months now. And in all the time Clint’s known her, Natasha had been endlessly bitching about how her friend and co-worker couldn’t find a man to save his tight little ass. Apparently the guy just worked too damn much, and then when he wasn’t working he just wanted to go home and sleep.

Clint could sympathize with the man. Sleep was one of his favorite hobbies. 

When the security cameras caught the beefcake janitor who cleans their floor sneaking in to crash in James’s office, Clint had a brainwave and called up Natasha. She, in turn, had called up James with some emergency to force him into the office.

After it seemed like nothing had happened last night, they had both given up hope. It was a long shot anyways.

And then the blond janitor guy showed up again, and suddenly they had another chance.

“Seriously, I saw them leave together!” Clint couldn’t stop grinning. He felt like cupid; just give him a bow and arrow and _bullseye bitches_. 

“Excellent…” Clint could tell she was grinning. “There’s pizza for you when you get home.”

“Pizza, yes!” 

It was a good night.


End file.
